


The Pitch

by TheSwagJuice



Category: Original Work
Genre: Academy, Angst, Anxiety, Dystopia, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Gen, High School, Near Future, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Post-War, Science Fiction, War
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-10-15
Updated: 2020-11-15
Packaged: 2021-03-08 21:54:24
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 10
Words: 10,958
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27033760
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheSwagJuice/pseuds/TheSwagJuice
Summary: Bailey Hughes is working with his family and clan in a rebel camp that is planning an ambush when enemy soldiers capture him and four other rebel teenagers.
Kudos: 4





	1. Prologue Part 1

March 17th, 23:42 P.M.  
In a redwood forest nearby the outskirts of the fortress lay there was a small encampment. All around the camp darkness, no lights except the personal ones that stayed inside of the individual tents. Everyone in the rebel camp had fallen asleep hours ago, except the commander in chief and their officers who were heated in an argument surrounding their next course of action. 

“We’re going into territory too dangerous to continue taking our kids with us.” Said one of the officers who was visibly passionate about his stance, “If we don’t send them back to home base now we risk losing them to the Jaguars.” He finished, with his hands on the massive center table leaning over towards his fellow officers, challenging them to question his plan. In a deep voice, the officer directly across from the previous officer replied.

“My crew and I are constantly patrolling the border of our camp and unless you’re questioning my abilities as the head of security I can assure you that every single child in this camp is kept safe. We need every single person we brought on this mission in order to successfully infiltrate the enemy headquarters, including the kids.” the head of security said, leaning back with her arms crossed, preparing herself for the argument that she knew was about to ensue. The back of the firearm officer’s headset started to pound when he heard his ally’s response and he tilted his head forwards as he responded. 

“Lyla you can’t act with such an inconsiderate mindse-”

“I’m stopping this before you two tear each other’s heads off,” Said the chief commander as he rose out of his stool, and all of the officers moved their heads towards their leader. “Gerard, your head is in the right place, it is immoral of us to proceed with our mission if the lives of the future generation are at risk, and while I’m not questioning you and your crew’s ability Lyla I agree that it is impossible to keep them one hundred percent safe as we approach the Jaguar stronghold. We pack up camp tomorrow morning and plan our attack without the children when we get back to home base next, the information we gained on this mission will still be valuable for next time.” 

All while he spoke he slowly sauntered out of the operations tent, finishing his finals words as he stood in the doorway of the tent. “I would rather die myself than let any of the kids here fall into harm’s way,” he finished and his eyes scanned everyone else in the room, making contact with each person before he walked out of the tent and towards his sleeping quarters for the night. Everyone else stayed silent for a few moments, and Lyla huffed as everyone else disbanded to their own tents. A plan was decided. To prevent any harm coming towards the kids, everyone would go towards home base tomorrow. Unfortunately for the rebels, night patrol was unable to detect Jaguar soldiers lurking on the outskirts, waiting for their chance to strike.


	2. Prologue Part 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Jaguars Soilders Strike.

March 18th, 1:25 A.M.   
Bailey Hughes was fast asleep when the Jaguars threw the body of the rebel night watch into a trench on the outskirts of the encampment and he stayed asleep as they snuck into the rebel camp and towards his tent. 

Bailey stirred in his sleep when one of the jaguars sunk his knife into the side of the cloth separating the ambush from their target, but he stayed asleep just like the rest of his family in the beds around him. 

The only time the teenager finally woke up was when a rag soaked in chloroform was put over his mouth and nose. 

Bailey’s eyes shot open and he was immediately overwhelmed by the hot feeling of the chemical in his airway. His body tried to trash against his assailants but the pressure on his arms was too heavy for him to budge the arms of the unmoving figures above him that were holding him down. He tried to sink down into the mattress below him to loosen the grip of the Jaguars but by then he was too far asleep to try to even wiggle away. 

Within moments he was asleep again and two of the Jaguars slowly lifted his body off of the bed and through the entrance that was cut into the tent not making a single sound to alert the other people that were in Bailey’s tent. The Jaguars carried Bailey through the dark of night towards the dim red lights of the getaway car and loaded his limp body into the trunk like warehousers workers loading luggage into a truck. 

After Bailey was put into the trunk four other teenagers joined him within twenty minutes, and by 2 A.M. the Jaguars were out of the encampment, with five rebel children heading directly into the nexus of the enemy stronghold.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow these section are a lot short than I thought they were haha. Hopefully longer chapters to come!


	3. Prologue Part 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Jaguars Prepare Bailey for Whats to Come.

March 18th 4 A.M.  
The light that Bailey woke up to seemed brighter than anything he had seen before. Directly above his face the light shone directly at him and Bailey grunted in response. His vision was hazy from the burning sensation in his eyes and no matter how hard he squinted he couldn’t get his eyes to adjust to the light that was flashing out of the hospital lamp above him. Bailey tried to turn his head, but as he did he became aware of the restraints locking his neck in place. With no options left Bailey shut his eyes, suddenly aware of quiet voices around him speaking. “CIC auditory device ready for implantation,” 

“Is it properly cleaned? We don't want to risk infection with an unsterile CIC.” 

“Yes it’s good I double checked. The device is fully functioning too.” As that was said a high-pitched ring shrieked through the entire room and Bailey instinctively tried to raise his hands over his ears, but the restraints on his wrists kept his hands below his waist and he only succeeded in rattling the surface he was currently lying on. Now more aware of Bailey’s presence the other voices in the room walked towards the operating table. 

“I see you’ve woken up,” one said, and while he was technically in Bailey’s vision the light made it impossible to distinguish any of their facial features. Bailey now noticed the texture of his clothes, realizing he was in a hospital gown and likely on a metal operating table judging by how cold the surface he was lying on was. 

“What is this place? What are you going to do to me? Where’s my family?” He asked, each question getting a little more panicked, with Bailey’s normally low voice rising in pitch. He heard chuckles from another voice, sounding darker toned and lower than the other.

“Calm down kid, your family is safe and we’re not going to kill you” The lower voice replied. He obviously was not trying to carry a long conversation with the boy on the operating table. This response just confused Bailey, his memory was still hazy from waking up in such a strange situation. 

“What am I doing here then?” The teenager asked, still very aware of the fact that he was in a strange hospital he didn’t remember entering. The first doctor scoffed. 

“I’m tired of hearing this kid speak.”

“Fair enough.” 

Bailey did not like the way the first voice spoke of him and he started to panic. He could feel his heart start to beat faster and the air around him suddenly felt as if it had disappeared.   
“Please-”

“Didn’t I just tell you to calm down?” Suddenly something came down on Bailey’s face, covering his entire mouth and nose. Bailey tried protesting again, but his body went limp before he could say a word. 

“Install the CIC.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alright, Prologue is now finished! Hope everyone enjoyed it! I really loved making this prologue and I'm super excited to reveal what happens next o.o


	4. Resurfacing

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Bailey wakes up again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Longest chapter yet! From now on I'm hoping for chapters of about this size. Hope you enjoy :)

“Are you ready for your big day tomorrow?”

“Yes, mother.”

“I’m so excited for you dear. Now, I know you love to focus on your studies, but try to socialize with the rest of the kids. You don’t have to torture yourself by self-isolating from your classmates. And be nice to the rebel kids, the transition is gonna be really tough on them.”

“I know, mom.”

“You already know this, but I met your father while we were classmates at Omnide, and he was a rebel. Maybe you could find someone there too.”  
Her daughter chuckled

“I don’t know mom, maybe. I’ll probably just stick with the kids I know.”

“Well, try your best and be kind to everyone no matter what. But don’t worry about pleasing your father and me because we’re already really proud of you, no matter how well you do.”

“Thanks… I love you.”

“I love you too, now I’ll let you get some rest.”

She closed her door to her daughter's bedroom and immediately ran back to her own where her husband was waiting for her with open arms. She threw herself at him and they embraced as the mother softly cried.  
“I’m so scared”

“I know darling, me too”

“What if she doesn’t make it out alive?”

March 20th, 7:21 A.M.

Bailey woke up in a daze. He was strangely comfortable in a way that seemed foreign to him. As he stretched his arms and legs out Bailey realized that he was wrapped in a blanket made out of some sort of material he’s never felt before. The feeling of warmth that surrounding Bailey almost made him drowsy again. Bailey melted back into the bed beneath him, the pillow under his head putting no discomfort onto his neck. A smile crept onto his face, his wavy brown hair falling into his eyes, definitely cleaner than the last time he fell asleep. As he lay in bed not falling back asleep, but not ready to get out of bed, Bailey began to daydream. 

When was the last time his hair had felt this soft? It had been weeks at least since he had a good shower with shampoo. Everything about today just felt different somehow. But it definitely wasn’t a bad thing. All the physical comforts that Bailey was experiencing were much better than the ones he was used to. 

But, what was he used to? Bailey tried to think about the feelings his body was accustomed to. Sadly, his mind came up blank. He couldn't think about anything prior to this moment. 

What? 

His eyes shot open, now very much so aware of the fact that his mind drew a blank when it came to the past. He didn’t have any memories. His chest tightened as he sat up and took in his surroundings, and he was surprised to see that there were several beds that were identical to his lined up along a wall on both sides of him. But what he was more surprised by was the fact that there were people in the beds around him who he definitely did not recognize. To his left, there was a girl with straight blonde hair who was definitely not a pretty sleeper. She looked like she had been wrestling with her sheets because her body was on top of the bed’s blue comforter and her hair was acting as a set of curtains for her face, completely covering her face as she snored. 

To his right, there was a boy who looked to be about the same age as him. He had neat brown hair but he was lying face down into his pillow so he couldn’t describe him in any other way besides his light brown skin and short dark brown hair. Bailey took short glances at the people further away from him but his priority at this moment was getting information that could point to where he was and how he got here. He moved his legs out of the bed and tried to jump on the hard wooden floor to the right of his bed. But he got caught inside the blanket and loudly fell onto his arms, making a loud thud, and almost immediately he could hear the shuffling and groaning of the kids around him. 

Bailey panicked, unaware of if the others were in the same situation as him so he instantly jumped back into his bed, threw the comforter over him, and pretended to be asleep because that was obviously the best option in order to guarantee his safety. After a few moments, the kids who heard Bailey fall started to actually wake up, and as soon as they started talking it became obvious that they were all in similar situations as him. 

“Uh, who are you?” 

“Before we do introductions does anyone know where we are?”

“I have no clue. Do you know how we got here?” 

“If I have no idea where we are how would I know how we got here?”

"Mmmmm, can everyone quiet down for a bit, please? Thank youuuuuu.” 

“Oh my god, I think there are people in every single one of these beds.”

“What about this one in between us?” 

“Uh, I’m not sure.”

Bailey knew they were talking about his bed because the voices were very close and on either side of him. So, in order to not seem suspicious he kicked his left foot in order to move the lump of a comforter on top of him and groaned so they knew he was human. The room was uncomfortably silent and Bailey knew that everyone was watching him wake up for the second time in ten minutes. He slowly rose from under the covers and as soon as his face got out from under the sheets he made eye contact with the boy to his right. His eyes were dark brown and his thick eyebrows were furrowed, making it very obvious that Bailey was being observed and evaluated. 

“So who are you?” The boy asked in a tone that wasn’t accusatory, but genuinely curious.  
Bailey didn’t know why, but something about the tone of this room made him feel like he could be truthful. Everyone else in the room must have been in the same situation as him.

“Um, I’m Bailey. So, no one knows where we are or how we got here?” Bailey was extremely confused and as he came to his senses he noticed that he was clothed. Fully clothed in what seemed like a uniform he did not recognize. “So does the reason we’re here have something to do with the school uniform we’re wearing?” As he said that the other kids looked at themselves and as he thought, everyone in the room was wearing a matching uniform that was strangely formal. Each uniform consisted of a suit jacket that was primarily tan with purple trims on the edges, as well as on the pockets and sleeves. Everyone was also wearing a tie, while the boys wore pants and dress shoes while the girls wore either pants or skirts and heels. 

“Did some freak dress us up or something?” The girl to his left asked. “I need out now, I cannot be locked in some prison made by a creep!” She continued and got out of bed stomping towards the door to her left. To everyone’s surprise, it opened. “What the hell?” The girl thought aloud, and as she looked outside she gasped. She stood there for a few seconds, stunned, her head just inches below the door when another girl got out of bed and stood next to her in the doorway, looking past her arm. 

“Oh my god.” The short red-haired girl said in a breathy voice, and she joined the first girl as they both stood stunned in the doorway. At this point, Bailey was done living in suspense and got up as well and pushed past the two girls who were blocking the exit. 

The sight that he saw was breathtaking. 

The first thing that caught Bailey’s eye was the aerial cable car system above him. There was a car moving up almost directly above him, and inside he saw a group of kids wearing uniforms that looked strikingly similar to the one he was wearing himself. As his eyes followed the cables that the car was connected to and they stopped when he spotted a castle. A giant castle. He couldn’t tell what the walls were made of because all he could see was that the castle was black, but it still shined in the daylight as if it was made of marble. He did, however, notice the tan and purple flags that were on top of all of the cone-shaped roofs flapping in the wind gracefully. In front of him, there was a courtyard that was full of plant life. Trimmed hedges that acted as walls to the brick walking paths were everywhere, and he could see a path heading up straight to the large flight of steps that led to a giant opening to the black castle. The brown-haired boy from earlier appeared behind him and stood at his side. 

“This place is amazing. It… smells really great here.” He said, bumping his fist against Bailey’s arm and walking further into the center of the courtyard, where a giant redwood tree stood that was almost as tall as the castle next to it. Bailey breathed in through his nose, suddenly aware of the smell that screamed “nature” at him. Likely due to the giant tree that was hovering over them. Bailey’s feet started walking after the other boy, grabbing his arm and making him turn around. 

“Wait up, we should really stick together as a group and introduce ourselves right now,” Bailey said and the other boy looked at him in the eyes for a second and his hazel eyes lit up. 

“Yeah, you’re right, my bad.” He replied and the two of them walked back towards the building they came from, where a circle was forming that consisted of the eight other people that woke up in the same room. The two of them completed the circle and the girl who first opened the door spoke up first. “So we all know the same amount of nothing considering this whole situation, so for now we should just introduce ourselves to each other.” The blonde towered over everyone else in the group, easily standing at over six feet tall. However, her presence didn’t seem intimidating and Bailey felt compelled to continue the conversation. 

“Well, you all already know I’m Bailey, but I don’t know any of your names. So we could probably just go in a circle telling everyone who we are.” The blonde smiled, seemingly happy that she wouldn’t have to do all the talking.

"Yeah, that sounds good. I’m Anna.” She said and everyone else nodded their head or otherwise acknowledged Anna. 

“I’ll go next,” said the boy that Bailey brought back to the circle, “I’m Ricky. Nice to meet everyone.”  
Through the introductions, Bailey also learned that the red-haired girl was named Audrey and that the other six were named Steve, Bethany, Adrian, Ciara, Xavier, and Heather. Everyone seemed to get along, but no one understood why they were grouped together by whoever put them there or if they were even brought to this place against their will. While they were doing introductions several people passed by the group who looked like guards, but none of them paid any mind to the group of teens. It was as if their presence didn’t mean anything to anyone else like they were just hotel guests who were staying for the night.

"So, no one has any memories of what happened to them before today?" Anna asked, and everyone else either described the feeling when they first woke up, or just agreed with Anna. "This is so weird, I can't be here. We don't know if this place is dangerous!" She exclaimed and that got more sounds of agreement from the group as everyone nodded their head. Next, the red-haired girl raised her hand and began to speak

“Could we just, maybe leave?” Audrey asked and while it seemed too obvious it felt like it was possible. “I see an open gate over there with some guards, and the other ones didn’t say anything to us, so maybe they’ll just let us pass.” As she continued her sentence she seemed to get less confident in her idea, but Bailey was willing to try anything to get more information at least. 

“Why don’t we just try? If the guards stop us we can at least ask them questions about everything.” He added, and that got a smile out of Anna and positive responses from the rest of them. And so, the group walked towards the gate. The gate was a fair distance away, and it took them about ten minutes to get right in front of it. As they approached the entrance of the gate that they realized was much bigger than they originally thought, they heard the voice of one of the guards for the first time.

“Sorry kids, you can’t go out to town yet. You need to go to the castle and go to your school orientation.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I grinded out this story today to get a footing for where this is going. I have an outline for the entire plot but now I know the vibe that I want this to have.


	5. Orientation

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The students discuss with the guard.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Not sure how often I'm gonna update, but I want to finish this real bad.

March 20th, 8:34 A.M. 

The group just stared at the guard, dumbstruck. The small smile on his face and the way that the guard spoke to them didn’t make Bailey scared, but he was confused. There were so many questions in his mind, but his mind drew a blank on what words were necessary to ask them. Bailey looked around and he could tell by the look in the other kid’s eyes that they were asking themselves the same questions. Why is he talking to us like we’re SUPPOSED to be here? How does he know who we are? What does he mean by orientation? The guard looked humored by the looks on their faces, which put an unsettling feeling in the kids' stomachs. Bailey’s mouth felt dry. He wanted to speak up for the group, but his brain wouldn’t let him. Suddenly, instead of the kids, the man spoke. 

“Look, every time we get a new batch of students this happens, you kids just need to head on up the steps of the castle right there and in the front room someone will be there to guide you to your first meeting.” He finished in such a tone that you couldn’t suspect him of mal intentions even if you tried and that just confused the kids even more. Who is this man? Who does he work for? Bailey’s head was filled with so many questions that he couldn’t keep his thoughts straight. But it was as if someone had taken his vocal cords. Thankfully, behind him, he heard the familiar voice of Anna doing exactly what he wanted to do. 

“Sir, you’re gonna have to give us a little bit more information before we start going wherever you decide to send us,” Bailey looked back at her and could see her face getting more red. He was almost scared by the way she was staring daggers at the man. She walked to the front of the group and stood over the man as she kept lecturing him. “First of all, what are these meetings about? I sure as hell don't know anything about scheduled meetings with nine other teenagers. And who is in charge of this place that wants some random kids to enter their castle? I know I haven’t met anyone who owns a castle like this. If you think that we’re just going to blindly fol-” 

And then, for the first time, it happened. 

At first, Bailey thought he had been shot. The sharp pain at the back of her head combined with the ringing in his ears made him fall to the ground hard. His hands went to the sides of his head, instinctively covering his ears as his knees gave out. Bailey fell to the ground, and the pain in his head involuntarily forced his eyes closed as hard as possible, attempting to dull the pain that felt like bullet holes that exited through both of his temples. When he hit the floor Bailey barely felt the impact of hitting the floor, the stabbing feeling in his brain and the ringing in his ears made the dull blow to his back feel like nothing. 

What he did feel however, was the air being knocked out of his lungs when he became the bottom of a human pile with the rest of his new classmates. He could feel someone heavy fall directly onto his stomach, and his hands reflexively fell to his sides as Bailey lay wheezing under the rest of his classmates who had the same pain in their heads. He tried desperately to inhale as he opened his eyes. Bailey wanted nothing more than to regain his senses and find a way to escape the pile of kids on top of him. However, when he got his vision back and all he saw was darkness, Bailey panicked even harder. He tried to breathe in, but his lungs stayed compressed inside of his chest. He tried again, but the pain in his head stopped Bailey from even opening his mouth. He tried one last time, but his vision went white. 

Bailey was the first one to pass out, but within minutes all ten kids were on top of each other, and were then being carried inside of the castle by the guards and other employees of the castle.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A bit shorter, hope y'all enjoyed anyways :)


	6. Preservation

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Bailey wakes up, again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi! It's been a minute but I'm back. Honestly this isn't my best work but I wanted to pump this out now and maybe edit it later.

March 20th, 10:00 A.M.

Bailey felt like he was underwater. He opened his eyes but as he looked around nothing made sense. He expected to see something that he’s seen before. The black castle towering in the sky or any of the kids that he woke up with the day before but all he saw was a shroud of nothing. It felt like he was in a black hole and couldn’t feel anything except a light sensation surrounding him as if he was floating through nothing. He reached his arm out in front of him and he became suddenly aware of the lack of inertia or friction affecting his body. Nothing was pulling him in any direction but he was constantly drifting in a direction that was probably down.   
“Hello?” He shouted into the darkness, but not even his own echo responded to him as Bailey continued to descend into the void surrounding him and as soon as the words left his mouth they were gone, swallowed up by nothing. Everything about this place was wrong and Bailey knew that, but for some reason, he felt peaceful. He felt the usual tightness in his body release and he let out an exhale that felt refreshing beyond anything he’s felt before. Bailey closed his eyes, and as he let his conscious drift away he started hearing the voices. 

“Bailey, wake up” 

“It’s time to start class Bailey”

"You need to come back to the real world, kid”

“Hey, get up”

Bailey got knocked back into reality when he got a rough shove from an unknown source. He jumped up and when he opened his eyes the first thing he became aware of wasn’t the classroom he was in, but the constriction in his chest returning. A feeling of dread washed over him as his shoulders slouched once again, but he got distracted as he looked around and took in his surroundings. A classroom. What? Looking around the room it didn’t even look like any of the classrooms he’s seen before, this one was huge. And there were a lot of people in it. And there was actually a lot of noise around him too, lots of talking and laughter...and suddenly it did seem like a classroom. Everywhere around the big room, there were desks sorted in columns and rows and each one was filled by a kid that looked around his age, some familiar, but most new. All along the walls were banners that were mostly tan with purple stripes on both sides going down and a purple flower drawing in the middle. Something about the floral drawing looked familiar and as he observed the design of the banner he identified the flower in the middle. It was an Oleander, a poisonous plant. Suddenly, a hand firmly planted itself on his left shoulder and Bailey turned around to see Audrey, staring at him with a concerned but friendly look.

“Hey, you doing okay? No need to get lost in your thoughts.” She kept her hand on his shoulder as if to pull him back to Earth and after staring blankly at her for a moment he smiled and let the tension in his back fall as Audrey’s hand left his shoulder. 

“Hey, uh thanks” he laughed softly and looked around. “Um, where are we? Is everyone else here?” Bailey felt a lot more comfortable seeing familiar faces, but this classroom still had him on edge. 

“Yeah, everyone from the room is here, but we’re spread across the whole classroom. Luckily you, me, and Adrian are all seated together.” She walked behind him and sat in her desk that was across from him to the back and the left. Audrey pointed to her right and Bailey looked directly behind him to see a younger-looking guy staring back at him. Adrian, the shy looking light brown haired boy from their group. Bailey turned around in his desk and straddled the seat to face Audrey and Adrian. Then, in a soft voice, Adrian spoke.

“You doing okay Bailey? I was worried for you dude.” he smiled and lowered his head as if he was afraid of upsetting Bailey for being concerned.

“I’m alright, just really confused. Do either of you guys know where we are?” The most bewildering part for Bailey was that everyone was acting so calm despite not knowing where they were. It seemed that the obvious reaction would be to freak out. At least to Bailey. 

“No one really knows what’s happening, but they said they can stop the noise that made us pass out,” Audrey explained, and suddenly Bailey remembered what happened outside the gates, which made the idea of being able to prevent that from happening again very appealing. 

“Well that sounds really good, but who’s ‘they’ and how do they control that sound?” All of the explanations he was getting were too vague and didn’t provide Bailey with any real comfort. 

“Okay, so-” Adrian was about to get out of his seat, but as he got up a hush fell across the room. All at once every single person in the room went silent and directed their entire attention directly behind Bailey, and as he turned around he saw a woman who looked oddly out of place compared to the vintage style of the rest of the area. Wearing a pair of slim triangular shades and a lace purple dress that opened up in the front she walked into the classroom and scanned the room, her heels clicking on the ground and her updo bouncing slightly as she walked up to a podium that was front and center. She opened her mouth slightly to speak, but she closed it and slowly turned her head. She was looking directly at Bailey. She turned her head back and spoke. 

“Welcome to the academy of divine forces.”   
Immediately applause erupted from the students. Like a storm of thunder and wind all around Bailey, the kids were hollering and clapping like they were trying to impress somebody. But like always, Bailey had no idea what was happening. He whipped his head around and behind him, Audrey and Adrian weren’t participating in the cheering either and the three of them exchanged looks of uncertainty. Adrian and Bailey made eye contact and Adrian sheepishly joined the rest of the students in applause while Bailey kept analyzing the students. From across the room to his right he saw Anna’s sticking out above the rest of the kids, looking just as confused as the rest of Bailey’s group. What was weird to him, however, was Ricky just behind Anna. Ricky was sitting at a desk to the right of Anna whooping and hollering like everyone else in the room as if he knew what was happening.   
Once again, nothing made sense. Apparently, Bailey was in the minority of kids in this classroom who didn’t know what was happening. And the kids from the room he woke up in aren’t all part of this group either. Who was this woman? And what did Bailey get himself into?

Slowly the applause died down, and the woman who was now smiling continued her speech. 

“Now I know many of you may have questions about what’s happening, but I can assure you that we mean nothing but the best for all of you.” The way she spoke was airy but at the same time very mature. It was the kind of voice that would grab your attention because of how unique it was, and that was very apparent by the way no one besides Bailey looked away from her when she was talking.

“As all of you have experienced, we as a family suffer from terrorizing auditory attacks that come in the form of high pitch noises in our heads that cause pain and in extreme cases, loss of consciousness.” Bailey thought about the incident at the gate. 

“We have our suspicions on the source of these attacks, but for now the cause and source of them stay unknown.” She looked up and smiled widely. “However, we do have a solution to prevent them.” As she finished the door that she came through opened again, and a guard wheeling a cart with multiple levels of black trays came through, leaving the cart at her side.

“Children, these devices can drown out all noise and stop any noise from hurting you.”   
The guards who were standing at the walls took the trays from the cart and began distributing the devices. The one who gave Bailey his device was the same one who stopped his group at the gate, and as he handed Bailey the small disc he smiled at him. Bailey examined the thing in his hand, it was almost circular and couldn’t have been much bigger than a centimeter. 

“These devices should fit perfectly into each of your right ears, don’t push them in too hard, they should pop in with just a small amount of pressure.” She said, and it was true. Bailey put the disc into his ear and it seemed to pop in without any extra space in his ear socket. He played with it for a moment, and when he tapped it with his finger he went deaf.

He instantly tapped it again and his hearing came back, just in time to hear the woman speak again.

“As some of you have seen, the device is a bit extreme, but it is necessary to keep you all safe. Tapping the device will take away all of your hearing and tapping it again will bring it back.” It didn’t make sense, the device was in only one ear but it stopped hearing in both. “You can take the device out by tapping it twice within a second, but we recommend keeping it in at all times so that you are always prepared to defend yourself. The attacks come at random times that we can’t predict so it’s on yourselves to be responsible about it. No need to worry about the devices when you shower either, they’re water-resistant.”

Bailey felt relieved that he had a method to stop that noise from coming back, but he was still skeptical about trusting this woman immediately. They were definitely helping him and his group, but there had to be some sort of ulterior motive. He looked back at Audrey and could tell that she was thinking the same thing. Then the woman spoke again.

“That’s all from me, if for some reason you need to speak to me you can find me in my office located in the laboratory.” She finished and walked out the door, her heels clicking down a hallway as she left.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you enjoyed!


	7. Proper Introductions

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The kids regroup and discuss their plans.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I liked writing this one, hope you'll like it.

March 20th, 1:24 P.M. 

The day had gone by so fast for Bailey, and for once things seemed to be going pleasantly for him. After the strange lady that explained the ear devices left a painfully boring man took her place and explained that the kids would basically just be attending a regular school from now on. Five days out of the week everyone would be attending mandatory classes that covered basic academic subjects such as English, Maths, History, and Science. All things that Bailey seemed to have a good knowledge of when he thought about it. Formulas like the quadratic equation and names like Martin Luther seemed somehow familiar to him, even though he had no answers as to how he knew them. As always Bailey was confused, but he was tired of worrying so much. As the school officials took all sixty of the students on a tour of the academy he let his brain go on autopilot and let the beautiful views inside of the school walls cloud his fears of this new environment. The school was simply put, breathtaking. There were five main floors to the academic part of the castle and each one was completely dedicated to one of the subjects that were taught at the academy of divine forces. The tour took about three hours and once it was done the tour guides simply dismissed them. It was established that the students couldn’t exit the gates of the school that led into a major city beneath the school grounds. Besides that, however, there were little to no restrictions on what they could do. 

So Bailey and the nine other kids he woke up with decided to explore together. 

The kids all seemed to group up rather quickly, and from quick interactions during the tour, Bailey learned that all sixty of the students woke up in groups of ten spread across six different houses on the school grounds. This formed a natural sort of separation between the students. All six of the groups went in separate directions, not exactly avoiding each other, but they felt more comfortable with the kids they met a few hours before the others. Bailey and the others walked onto the steps of the castle and they decided to regroup back inside of their dorm house.

“This place is really spacey compared to most dorm rooms, huh?” Said Bailey 

“With so many kids I’d expect bunk beds or something, but these people must not care about wasting resources” Replied Audrey. 

“I get a queen size bed just for going to school? Usually, you have to pay to GO to school.” Said Ricky as he flopped into his bed snow angel style. “Anyone else feel like a nap? I think a group nap in different beds would really solidify our group bond.” 

“How can you sleep when we’ve barely checked this place out? I wanna explore.” Anna suggested, standing right in the entrance to keep the door open. 

“Yeah, did you guys see that huge forest? Those are prime climbing trees and I need some good exercise” Said Bethany, as she tied her brown hair into a ponytail behind her head. 

“We’re not exactly in prime exercise clothes though. I don’t know if we should risk getting our uniforms dirty.” Said Xavier, the only one who rivaled Anna in height, clocking in at 6’1. 

“Oh, no we have changes of clothes. I checked the drawers and all of our nightstands have multiple sets of these uniforms and exercise clothes, so we don’t need to worry about getting dirty.” Heather said as she opened a door “We have a laundry room with a washer/dryer too so that’ll make things even easier.”

“Even if we could go tree climbing, I don’t really want to. I’d rather not risk falling thirty feet.” Said Steve.

Ciara agreed, “And I don’t want to deal with bugs either.” 

“I actually like bugs, but I am totally scared of heights so no tree climbing for me. I’ll totally go and just stay on the ground though.” Adrian responded.

“It seems like the majority of us would rather not go explore right now. So I think I’m gonna pass out, sound good?” Ricky said.

“We have an entire kingdom to explore and you guys want to sleep right now? You guys are crazy. let’s go out and do something!” Anna said, inching out of the doorway. 

The kids continued debating for a while trying to figure out what to do, but the argument was ruthless and they couldn’t come to a consensus. In the end, they decided to take a vote on what to do. It was 5-4 in favor of going to the forest, and Bailey was the last person to vote. 

“Yeah, we’re going tree climbing.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you enjoyed it!! I finished almost all my school work for this week so I have a lot of free time for now.


	8. Trees

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The gang goes tree climbing

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey! Fast update :) Hope you guys like it because I loved writing this.

March 20th, 2:49 P.M. 

By the time that the entire group got to the forest Bethany and Anna were already twenty-five feet into the air. The forest was filled with giant oak trees that must have been at least ninety feet tall on average. With the leaves that bushed at the end of each branch covering the sky and the ground. The sun only hit the floor in small rays that peaked through the leaves. The other eight kids stood directly under the tree that the two were climbing, Anna was sitting on a branch and swinging her legs while Bethany was positioning herself to jump from one branch to another on a different tree. 

“Beth be careful!” Heather shouted as Bethany took off running on the thick branch. She ran three paces and on the four she leaped off, landing with both feet onto the next tree and grabbing a branch directly above her to stabilize her body. When she sat down everyone else applauded. 

“Holy crap, dude, how did you do that?!” Bailey yelled up, his jaw dropped from Beth’s random act of courage. 

“Oh it’s no big deal, I’m just a natural I guess.” She said in a playful tone, sounding modest as if to downplay her impressive feat. 

Heather walked past Bailey who was at the base of Beth’s tree and hoisted herself up.

“Now I can’t do that so once I get up there you have to stay with me in this tree Beth so I don’t fall.” She said as she began to climb up. Beth agreed to help keep her safe. After a few minutes Bailey, Ricky, Steve, Audrey, and Xavier joined the girls in the trees, while Adrian and Ciara stayed on the ground. 

“I thought you three didn’t wanna climb? What made you guys change your mind?” Bailey asked the boys. He and Audrey were climbing together as were Ricky and Steve. Xavier was climbing his own tree, but all eight of the kids were in earshot of each other. 

“Well everyone else was climbing, and I’d rather join the group than do nothing. I’m willing to at least try this, and if I don’t like it I’ll just go down. y’know?” Steve responded. He was staying relatively close to the ground and sat no more than fifteen feet up on a branch. His feet dangling off the edge and his arms steadying him on a twig above his head. 

Xavier however, was taking this group activity as a competition as he and Bethany had gone out of sight from the rest of the group. Bethany had been hesitant to accept Xavier’s challenge because she and Heather had agreed to stay together but now Heather had joined the rest of the group lower down and those two were seeing who could climb higher. 

\---

65 Feet Up. 

“You’re scared, huh?” Bethany said as she hoisted herself onto a higher branch. The branch below her bounced as she lept off of it and as she grabbed the one above her she swung her legs up, landing in a sitting straddle position, now six feet higher than a few seconds ago.

Right below her, on the opposite side of the tree, Xavier was crawling to the end of a slender branch, trying to hop onto the next one up that sloped down below. 

“Nah, this is actually a lot more fun than I thought it would be,” He said as he carefully stepped onto the branch above, using his arms and legs to crawl back towards the trunk of the tree in the fetal position. “I’m not as fast at climbing as you but I bet I can go higher.” Hearing this, Bethany's head peaked out from the other side of the tree as she snickered at Xavier's taunt. It took a minute, but Xavier safely got to the base of the branch and once Xavier got to the tree trunk he and Bethany reached around the tree trunk between them and fist-bumped. 

“For real though, this is awesome and you are badass.” He finished as he hugged the tree for stability. Bethany mirrored him, her arms feeling the rough bark of the tree through her jacket, and their fingertips touched on both sides. They were both panting heavily, extremely winded after climbing so high, almost as if the elevation shrunk the air supply to an insufficient amount. They couldn’t see each other, but they both started laughing. 

“Xavier, I think we should go down now. The others are probably worried and I think we both know that we’re the best tree climbers, yeah?” 

“Yeah, you’re right... This was incredible though.” He replied

“Need help getting down?”

“Definitely.”

-Click- 

“Did you get that?” 

“Of course I did, there was nothing else to see. Write it down.”

“Subjects 32 and 56 show mutual signs of affection. Friendship formed.”

-Click- 

Meanwhile, below them, Adrian and Ciara were sitting at the base of the tree. Ciara was wearing a purple beanie that was in her nightstand drawer to shield her hair from the bark. 

“I don’t know how anyone goes that high up with no harnesses or anything. It's like they all have death wishes or something.” The two of them were sitting relatively far away from everyone else and were looking up to see everyone else climbing the trees from below. Ciara’s eyes were darting around the trees, silently keeping her eyes on each of her classmates, even Bethany and Xavier, who were only visible to those on the ground. 

Without realizing that Adrian wasn’t paying much attention to what she was saying, Ciara kept talking. 

“And those two at the top are seriously crazy, I don’t know if they have issues about pride or whatever but if they fell from there it wouldn’t be pretty.” She got up and walked a little closer to the crazies, cupping her hands around her mouth.  
“HEY! YOU TWO NEED TO COME DOWN BEFORE EITHER OF YOU FALL!” She shouted and in response, Xavier shouted back.

“WE ARE! DON’T WORRY BETH’S HELPING ME GET DOWN.” Xavier called back. Ciara let out a sigh of relief when she heard that and sat back down next to Adrian. 

“At least they’re coming down...phew.” She looked over at Adrian this time. He was currently occupying himself with something at the base of the tree they were sitting at. Suddenly, he whipped his head around and gestured his cupped hands towards Ciara. 

“Check this out, they have stag beetles here!” He said, and Ciara visibly flinched. 

“These guys aren’t that rare but they look super cool. Lots of people keep them as pets too.”

“Mmm, I don’t think everyone will like you keeping bugs in our house though.” She replied, gently trying to get her message across.

“Yeah. You’re right.” He said as he let the beetle go. He looked over to Ciara and shrugged. “It looked really cool though right?” 

“It was something.”

“Yeah.” 

\---

Anna, Audrey, Bailey, Ricky, and Steve were sitting in a circle in the trees. Bailey and Audrey were sitting together on a branch as were Anna and Steve. Ricky was a little higher than the rest of them. He was laying down on a branch, his arms, and legs wrapped around it as he looked down at the rest of them. 

“I could really go for some food right now,” Steve said as his stomach grumbled. The sound from his stomach was heard by everyone and all five of them laughed. “If you guys could eat anything right now, what would it be?” His question provoked mixed sounds of intrigue from the others. 

“Definitely some shellfish. A crab or some shrimp right now would be amazing.” Anna said looking at the rest of them to judge their reactions to her response.

“Why limit yourself to just shellfish though? I could go for some smoked salmon or maybe even sushi.” Bailey replied, “I love any kind of seafood personally.”

“I don’t really care for seafood honestly, it kinda grosses me out. I’d love some pastries or some cake though. I seriously love sweets.” Audrey said quietly. Bailey was shocked by Audrey’s answer. He really didn’t expect Audrey to be a fan of anything sweet.

“Make that two for sweets. I think I might have a sugar addiction.” Steve had a goofy smile on his face, as if he was daydreaming about food. “Specifically though, anything dairy based. Ice cream and pudding is the shit.” 

“You two being fans of sweets really surprises me. How are you guys so fit then?” Ricky asked the two. “Before you answer though, I’d love a burger right now. You wouldn’t expect me to love greasy food but I totally do.” 

Bailey snorted, “Actually I don’t find that hard to believe.” He said while laughing. A couple of seconds later a twig hit the top of Bailey’s head. 

Bailey was really enjoying himself right now. He actually felt comfortable about everyone around him, and while he didn’t think the feeling was mutual for everyone he thought it could happen soon. Finally he thought he could put his guard down, and let himself be vulnerable towards other people.

-RING- 

Suddenly, the sound of a bell ringing flowed out to the entire campus, which caught the attention of everyone on the school grounds, not just those in the forest. Bailey and the others stayed silent for a second.

“What was that?” he asked, getting no response from the others. Then they heard a voice. 

“Students, it is lunchtime. Please gather at the cafeteria which is located directly across from the academy steps. Food will be served until 5 P.M. to prepare for dinner and will reopen at 7 P.M. to serve dinner.” 

And everyone in the trees started climbing down as fast as they could.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope ya'll loved it!


	9. Friendships

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The rest of Bailey's first day at the Academy plays out.

March 20th, 6:01 P.M.

The rest of the day went pleasantly for Bailey and the rest of the gang. To their surprise, the food served at their new school was in simple terms, fantastic. The cafeteria was more a buffet, with any kind of entree or dessert one could ask for, and they had vegan options available too. From eating with the rest of his group he learned that Audrey and Xavier both didn’t eat meat as well as lots of other icebreaker details about his other classmates. 

All in all the day was really pleasant for Bailey. The feeling of having a group of kids his age that he got along with was refreshing, and while Ricky and Anna may have been a little more willing to talk than the rest of them he felt as if there was a balance between the ten of them. Besides the time Audrey went on about Bailey always pulling on his hair when he was nervous Ricky and Anna always led the conversations and everyone else pitched in when they had something important to contribute, and it seemed that no one really minded this. 

Bailey wanted to talk about how the group had already become such fast friends, but it seemed too soon to label all ten of them mutual friends. He felt that the time would come soon though. For the rest of the day they kept exploring the school grounds, and they learned that the school was actually elevated on a hill that overlooked a much larger city beneath them. While the rest of the group was talking near the ledge of the wall that supported the hill Bailey was sitting on top of it, looking down at the bustling city life beneath him. Like the ones in the school grounds, there were many systems of cable cars that created a web of cables in the air, and on closer inspection Bailey saw that some of the cars traveled in and out of an entrance to the wall beneath him, carrying both people and crates which held some sort of supply. He tried to look closer to get a look at the people inside of the cable car, but even from the entrance to the wall the people in the car still looked like ants. 

Looking at the city below him put a lot of things into perspective for Bailey. He had no idea why, but he had been selected to be an elite class citizen of this place. It was confusing how lucky he felt. Bailey wanted to be more panicked or worried about his situation, but he didn’t think that the people who brought him here wanted to hurt him. Otherwise, they would have done it already. Bailey couldn’t remember anything besides his own name and some academic knowledge, but maybe they would come back to him if he just stayed patient in this place. Besides, some of the others had lost their memory too. So it really wasn’t that big of a deal. 

The group had gotten back to their room at some point between ten and eleven P.M. and most of them had passed out basically immediately. However, it was now midnight and Bailey still couldn’t sleep. The pajamas and bedding provided had been comfortable to knock out everyone but Bailey within minutes, and now there he was, sitting up against his bed frame with nothing but his thoughts to keep him occupied. Nothing was on his mind though, he was just there being quiet. 

“Hey, you awake?” 

Bailey whipped his head around. He couldn’t see who it was but he could tell by the voice that it was Audrey standing right next to him in the dark. He was startled by the sudden voice because he hadn’t even heard someone get out of bed.  
“Holy crap where did you come from?” Bailey said  
“What do you mean? I just got out of bed.” She replied  
“Oh. Well what’s up? Can’t sleep?” He asked her  
“Nah, want to go chill outside?” She proposed.  
“Definitely.”

Bailey got out of bed much less quietly than Audrey, making Anna stir in her sleep while the two of them left the room. The air felt cold and crisp during the night, giving Bailey chills as the two of them walked into the courtyard in their pajamas. Audrey's red hair fell into her face as they walked against the breeze, and she put her hair into the beanie she grabbed from her nightstand. 

“I usually hate hats, but they can be nice when I don’t want to put my hair up.” She said as they sat down on a bench near the hedges.  
“Yeah that makes sense, having long hair sounds like a pain,” he replied.  
“It can be, sometimes I’m tempted to just chop most of it off y’know?”  
“Yeah, I’m sure you could pull that off nicely.”  
“Thanks.”  
They chuckled as they both looked up at the sky. They stayed silent for a moment until Audrey picked up the conversation.  
“This place is so weird, right? Like, I don’t even know how I got here.”  
“I know! Everyone seems so calm about this school or whatever, but I don’t even know why I was chosen or if even like, applied or something.”  
“And I don’t remember if I have a family in this city or what. It’s so strange.” 

Family

That word struck a chord with Bailey. 

He searched his mind for a while, and he felt as if memories of his family were on the tip of his tongue, somewhere deep in his mind. Sadly, as he continued to think about his childhood or the people who raised him, he came up with nothing as if the memories were in a corner of his brain that he hadn’t grown tall enough to reach yet. 

“Me either.”  
Audrey hummed in agreement with this and fell silent for a couple of seconds.  
“Sorry for venting, but something tells me you don’t really mind.” She said. Bailey laughed at that, surprised at how well she could read him.  
“Am I just that predictable? Or are you actually really smart?”  
“Hey, being predictable isn’t a bad thing if you don’t let people take advantage of you,” she said in a way that made it clear that it wasn’t meant to be offensive.  
“Yeah. Well, do you think we’re being taken advantage of if we just comply with the rules of this ‘Academy?’”  
“Maybe. But I don’t think we have much choice there. So it doesn’t matter.”  
“Mmm.”  
“Are you thinking of breaking the rules on the first day of school?” She asked him in a carefree tone.  
“Nah. You?”  
“Course not, these classes might be the only way to figure out what this place is. Plus, the people we got teamed up with seem pretty cool.”  
“Yeah, it’s nice to be around people that I actually enjoy.”

The two of them spent another hour talking before they went back to their room. Bailey learned about Audrey’s love for classical music and he told her about his taste for pineapple on pizza, which grossed Audrey out. The two of them stopped for a minute in front of the door before they went back inside. 

“I’m actually kinda tired now,” Bailey said as he scratched his head.  
“Me too, feels nice to want to sleep.” She said back.  
“I don’t know about you, but I’ve wanted to go to sleep, I just can’t.”  
“Huh. Well, I just don’t like doing nothing. Sleeping is time that could be spent on other things.”  
“Agree to disagree.”  
“Sounds good to me.”

They smiled.

“Well, we should get inside.” Audrey pointed out.  
“Yeah.”  
“Well, goodnight.”  
The two of them laughed.  
“God that feels so awkward to say!” Audrey said laughing.  
“I still appreciate the sentiment though! Even if it felt a little corny.” He said, wildly amused.  
“Okay okay, let’s head inside. Gotta be quiet for the others.”  
“Of course of course.”  
“Um, goodnight.” Audrey chuckled as she said that.  
Bailey smiled, “You too.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Didn't realize it's been so long. Hope y'all like this chapter.


	10. Return

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The group wakes up on their first day of school

March 21st, 7:02 A.M. 

“Good morning.”  
“Mornin.”  
“Is anyone in the bathroom right now?”  
“Yeah, Bethany and Heather got it.”  
“You can come in! Girls got the bathroom.”  
“When will you guys be out? I need the bathroom too!”  
“You’re gonna be waiting for a while man.”  
“Bailey! Get up!”  
Bailey woke up to Ricky whipping his comforter off of his bed. The first thing he saw in the morning was a flash of purple and brown whipping around his face and body. So, in response Bailey started to flail his arms and legs with a similar intensity and tempo. He took a second to take in his surroundings and after a second he remembered where he was, instantly feeling embarrassed once he realized what just happened. Thankfully instead of laughing at him like Bailey thought Ricky would, the other boy just smiled.   
“C’mon man, gotta get up for school. First period starts in an hour and breakfast starts in thirty.” Ricky explained, grabbing Bailey’s arm and pulling him out of bed. Bailey shook Ricky off, feeling particularly grumpy considering his lack of sleep. As he plopped back onto his mattress he looked around, seeing almost everyone, even Audrey just about ready to head out for the day.   
“I’m gonna lay down for a few more minutes. You guys can head out. I’ll catch up.” Bailey said as he closed his eyes, painfully aware of his lack of a blanket on top of him. 

Ciara looked over at him, “So glad there’s one other person here who isn’t a morning person. Everyone else here is psycho or something.” Bailey realized that she was the only other person who wasn’t up and ready either. “Yeah. You guys go save us seats at the cafeteria, I’ll make sure both of us are there by 7:30.” She said as she turned around to face the wall. Her bed was the furthest one on the right. 

The rest of the group looked at each other. “You guys sure you’ll be fine?” Anna asked, seemingly worried that the two would fall asleep as soon as they left. Bailey responded,  
“We’ll be fine. Just go, don’t worry about us.” He said, trying to smile as genuinely as he could to try and assure the others. They all looked at each other again, as if Bailey and Ciara weren’t there, and silently nodded to each other.   
“Well, okay,” Anna said. At once everyone else turned towards Anna as she walked towards the door to open it.

As soon as she put her hand on the handle a sharp pain struck every student in the school at once. Within seconds most of the other eight were on the floor and everyone had their hands on their ears. Bailey started to freak out, it was like an unknown force was terrorizing his sense of hearing. The pain traveled throughout his head and began to spread to the rest of his body, and he started to sweat. He felt a heat on his skin as if he had been struck with lightning. After a few seconds, Bailey lost control of his body, and as he felt something strange grab his hand there was nothing the boy could do to fight back.

All of a sudden, the pain stopped. Bailey stayed in the fetal position he had put himself into for a moment, before looking up to see Anna, who was pointing to the little black circle in her ear above him. He remembered yesterday’s orientation, the strange woman who gave them the devices and promised that they would stop these auditory attacks. Bailey realized that Anna must have activated his for him since he obviously forgot to do it himself. He wanted to thank her, but as he opened his mouth he became aware of his lack of hearing. “Hello?” He said to himself. But... he couldn’t hear anything. He snapped his fingers, still nothing. Huh. The woman wasn’t lying when he said these things took away all hearing.

“Children, these devices can drown out all noise and stop any noise from hurting you.”

She should’ve said they WILL drown out all noise Bailey thought. It was jarring how he couldn’t hear anything at all, not even his own voice. The only thing close to hearing Bailey could do was feel the vibrations of his voice. But besides that, the world was silent. Bailey got out of bed. Anna, Audrey, and Ricky were currently helping the rest of the group activate their noise cancellers. Ricky watched as Audrey tapped the black circle in Adrian’s ear and saw the immediate gratitude his body felt as the pain left. 

Bailey looked to the right and saw Ciara under her blanket, shivering. Bailey rushed over to her and pulled the blanket off of her as he tapped the device in her ear. She stopped shaking and looked up at Bailey. Bailey could tell that she was saying thank you to him but as the words left her mouth Ciara looked confused. She kept trying to talk to Bailey as if trying harder would make her words audible. The look of pain transformed into one of confusion and panic, something Bailey recognized as soon as it formed. Bailey wanted to explain what was happening, to connect the device in their ears to her lack of hearing, and calm her down, but he didn’t know-how. He ended up flailing his arms at her, which probably didn’t help calm her down, but as Bailey kept miming to Ciara, pointing to their ears and their mouths something clicked and the look of panic fell off of the girl's face. 

The relief Bailey felt relieving someone else’s stress was better than anything else. 

After a couple of minutes, all ten kids had their devices activated and understood what was going on. They all stood in a circle around Bailey’s bed, Ciara joining Bailey on the bed. They all just looked at each other, unsure of how to communicate what they wanted to do. Suddenly, Bethany pulled out a pen and paper from one of the desks in the room, which everyone else nodded at. She began writing, and a few seconds later she turned around the piece of paper, which simply read, “Food?” He couldn’t hear it, but he could see everyone in the group laughing at the simplicity of Beth’s message. 

Ciara got up off of the bed, and she opened the door, motioning with her hand for everyone to follow them. Bailey followed her, and soon did the rest of the group. 

They may not be able to hear, but some food would more than makeup for that.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you enjoyed!


End file.
